1. Field of the Invention
The present invention specifically relates to a TANGLE-PROOF COLLAR ASSEMBLY capable of accommodating pets and various animals and a method of use wherein restraint of the pet or animal is desirable.
2. Description of the Related Art
The safe and effective means for restraint and control of pets and various animals has long posed a problem to those charged with handling these animals. Typical restraint systems generally consist of a collar or harness, which is bound to the neck or upper torso of the animal and a leash or tether, which is detachably connected to the collar or harness. In the case of restraining devices that make use of the collar as a point of attachment, the collar poses the risk of infection by damaging the skin and hair of the animal's neck through the process of abrasion and debridement. This is a function of the collar being rotated about the animal's neck during restraint or tension imposed by the leash or tether. When the collar is bound about the animal's neck with adequate slack to allow it to move freely in either direction, the collar has a tendency to bind on the skin or hair of the animal. Given the momentum of the collar about the axis of the animal's neck, the collar may extract hair or debride the skin, which in turn leaves a wound subject to infection for parasites and microbial organisms. Several attempts to overcome this problem have been made, such as the use of a padded backing on the collar that conceals the means of attachment. However, this improvement still fails to maintain the collar in a stationary position wherein the animal's skin and hair are no longer subjected to such forces. In the case where the collar is designed to be adjusted about the neck of the animal to be stationary or exhibit limited rotation to overcome the mechanical problems of chafing associated with rotating collar designs, a new problem of discomfort and potential for choking are presented. In cases where the animal may be untrained and frisky, the potential for harm to the animal is exacerbated and the very issues that such designs attempt to address may in fact increase the likelihood of injuries ranging from dermatitis, mechanical alopecia, musculoskeletal injuries to asphyxia. In two such cases, this design as demonstrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,515 Brown, et al and U.S. Pat. No. 6,085,694 Simon, wherein the ability to inflict pain and discomfort upon an animal is considered a useful and essential element for training an animal.
The shortcoming of such collar based restraint designs appears to suggest that the use of a restraint that concentrates the point of force about a single point of the animal's anatomy is incapable of overcoming these concerns. This becomes most apparent when these forces are compounded by the normal torque forces, which are applied directly to the collar by the leash, wherein these forces demonstrate a variance of the axial plane, established between the collar and the neck of the restrained animal. This may distinguish itself as accelerated wear on the distal circumferential edges of the collar that correspond to associated dermal injuries. This has served as the impetus for tangle-proof leash designs typified by U.S. Pat. No. 5,740,764 Jacobsen, which offset the torque and rotation forces that complement the axial forces incident to the use of the collar restraint. Though this design satisfactorily accommodates the torque and rotational forces that serve to further aggravate the issue of the collar restraint, the design is silent in respect to resolving the issue of axial rotation of the collar about the neck of the animal. It would be desirable to have a means of providing safe, convenient and reliable restraint while minimizing the possibility of risk of injury to the animal.
In a further attempt to provide a means of restraint absent the issue of concentrating the controlling force about the focus of the neck of the animal, the harness was developed. Unlike the collar, the harness distributes the controlling force about the body of the animal, in most cases the neck, front legs and torso. However, the harness still suffers the drawbacks of the collar with regard to chafing the skin of the animal at those points of contact wherein the controlling force is maximized. Harness restraint systems are generally bulky and require additional effort on the part of the individual handler to adequately adjust and fit the animal. Furthermore, because the point of attachment for a leash is fixed on the harness, the individual handler is often frustrated in attempting to control high-spirited animals that are best served by the use of such a restraint, due to having to combat both the animal and the handler becoming ensnarled in the leash. Another approach has been to utilize a harness with a rigid or semi-rigid leash fitted at both the handle and the point of attachment to the harness with swivels, capable of rotating 360° about the axis of the leash. This approach does have some limited success in addressing the issue however, the individual handler is presented with a much reduced lead distance from the animal, and most significantly the individual handler is more directly subjected to the erratic motions of the animal in regard to the movement of the animal in a parallel vector to the axis of the leash. Given the size of the animal and the intensity of the ascribed movements, such a system could be rendered ineffective.
Another fault of the aforementioned collar and harness restraint systems are the difficulty they respectively pose to the individual that must employ them routinely to handle an animal. Though the collar restraint and leash present the simplest means to fit and adjust to the animal, given the range of possible motion the animal may present subject to its temperament, the individual handler may be forced to consistently untangle the leash during the period of use. In the case of those individual handlers that may use a harness in conjunction with a leash, they are presented with increased effort in properly securing and adjusting the harness to the animal in addition to being confronted with managing the leash to prevent binding and tangles. A device for restraining pets and animals that could eliminate these concerns would be of great advantage to a user.
There is a need to have a tangle-proof collar assembly, which overcomes the collective disadvantages posed by each of the above approaches in the handling of pets and various animals. The present invention satisfies such a need.